“Communicative Language Teaching” Chapter 1-6

Plot: Communicative language teaching, or CLT; the assumptions it is based on; its origins
and evolution since it was first proposed in the 1970s, and how it has influenced approaches
to language teaching today.

Chapter 1: “What Is Communicative Language Teaching?”

Communicative Language Teaching can be understood as a set of principles about the goals
of language teaching, how learners learn a language, the kinds of classroom activities that
best facilitate learning, and the roles of teachers and learners in the classroom.
Its goal→ Communicative competence

Grammatical competence Communicative competence

It refers to the knowledge we have of a language that The capacity of being able to successfully use the
accounts for our ability to produce sentences in a language for meaningful communication.
language. It includes the aspects of:
It refers to knowledge of the building blocks of ● Knowing how to use language for a range of
sentences (e.g., parts of speech, tenses, phrases, different purposes
clauses, sentence patterns) and how sentences are and functions
formed. ● Knowing how to vary our use of language according
It is the focus of many grammar practice books, which to the setting and the participants (e.g., knowing when
typically present a rule of grammar on one page, and to use formal and
provide exercises to practice using the rule on the informal speech or when to use language appropriately
other for written as opposed to spoken communication)
page. The unit of analysis and practice is typically the ● Knowing how to produce and understand different
sentence. types of texts (e.g., narratives, reports, interviews,
conversations)
● Knowing how to maintain communication despite
having limitations in one’s language knowledge (e.g.,
through using
different kinds of communication strategies)

- How learners learn a language

In recent years, language learning has been viewed as resulting from processes such as:
● Interaction between the learner and users of the language
● Collaborative creation of meaning
● Creating meaningful and purposeful interaction through language
● Negotiation of meaning as the learner and his or her interlocutor arrive at understanding
● Learning through attending to the feedback learners get when they use the language
● Paying attention to the language one hears (the input) and trying to incorporate new forms
into one’s developing communicative competence
● Trying out and experimenting with different ways of saying things
 - The role of students and teachers in the classroom

The type of classroom activities proposed in CLT also implied new roles in the classroom for
teachers and learners. Learners now had to participate in classroom activities that were based
on a cooperative rather than individualistic approach to learning. Students had to become
comfortable with listening to their peers in group work or pair work tasks, rather than relying
on the teacher for a model. Teachers now had to assume the role of facilitator and monitor.
They had to develop a different view of learners’ errors and of her/his own role in facilitating
language learning.

Chapter 2: “The Background to CLT”

In planning a language course, decisions have to be made about the content of the course,
including decisions about what vocabulary and grammar to teach at the beginning,
intermediate, and advanced levels, and which skills and microskills to teach and in what
sequence. Decisions about these issues belong to the field of syllabus design or course
design. Decisions about how best to teach the contents of a syllabus belong to the field of
methodology.

CLT prompted a rethinking of approaches to syllabus design and methodology. Trends in

language teaching in the last 50 years:
Phase 1: traditional approaches (up to the late 1960s)
Phase 2: classic communicative language teaching (1970s to 1990s)
Phase 3: current communicative language teaching (late 1990s to the present)

Priority→Grammatical competence.
They were based on the belief that grammar could be
learned through direct instruction
and through a methodology that made much use of
repetitive practice and drilling.
The approach to the teaching of grammar was a
deductive one: students are presented with grammar
rules and then given opportunities to practice using
them, as opposed to an inductive approach in which
students are given examples of sentences containing a
grammar rule and asked to work out the rule for
themselves.Once a basic command of the language
was established through oral drilling and controlled
practice, the four skills were introduced, usually in the
sequence of speaking, listening, reading
and writing. Techniques that were often employed
included memorization of dialogs,
question-and-answer practice, substitution drills, and
 various forms of
guided speaking and writing practice.
Accurate pronunciation and accurate mastery of
grammar was stressed.
Methodologies based on these assumptions include
Audiolingualism (in North America) and the
Structural-Situational Approach in the United
Kingdom. Syllabuses during this period consisted of
word lists and grammar lists, graded across levels.
In a typical lesson according to the situational
approach, a three-phase
sequence, known as the P-P-P cycle, was often
employed: Presentation, Practice,
Production.
Presentation: The new grammar structure is presented,
often by means of a conversation or short text. The
teacher explains the new structure and checks
Traditional approaches students’ comprehension of it.
Practice: Students practice using the new structure in a
controlled context, through drills or substitution
exercises.
Production: Students practice using the new structure
in different contexts,often using their own content or
information, in order to develop fluency with the new
pattern.
Under the influence of CLT theory, grammar-based
methodologies have given way to functional and
skills-based teaching, and accuracy activities such as
drill and grammar practice have been replaced by
fluency activities based on interactive small-group
work. This led to the emergence of a “fluency-first”
pedagogy in which students’ grammar needs are
determined on the basis of performance on fluency
tasks rather than predetermined by a grammatical
syllabus. We can distinguish two phases in this
development: classic communicative language
teaching and current communicative language
teaching.

In the 1970s, the centrality of grammar in language

teaching and learning was questioned, since it was
argued that language ability involved much more than
grammatical competence. Attention shifted to the
knowledge and skills needed to use grammar and other
aspects of language appropriately for different
communicative purposes. What was needed in order to
use language communicatively was communicative
competence:
→ knowing what to say and how to say it
 appropriately based on the situation, the participants,
and their roles and intentions.
→ the sub-discipline of sociolinguistics argued that
CC should be the goal of language teaching.
In the 1970s and 80s, language teachers
and teaching institutions began to rethink their
teaching, syllabuses, and classroom materials. New
approaches to language teaching were needed.
A syllabus should identify:
● Purposes for which the learner wishes to acquire the
target language; for example, using English for
business purposes, in the hotel industry, or for travel
● Setting in which they will want to use the target
language; for example, in an office, on an airplane
● The socially defined role the learners will assume in
Classic Communicative Language Teaching the target
language, as well as the role of their interlocutors; for
example, as
a traveler
● The communicative events in which the learners
will participate: everyday situations,
professional/academic situations
● The language functions involved in those events, or
what the learner will be able to do with or through the
language; for example, making introductions, giving
explanations
● The notions or concepts involved, or what the
learner will need to be able to talk about
● The skills involved in the “knitting together” of
discourse: discourse and rhetorical skills; for
example, storytelling
● The variety or varieties of the target language that
will be needed, such as American, Australian, or
British English
● The grammatical content that will be needed
● The lexical content, or vocabulary, that will be
needed

This led to two important proposals for a communicative syllabus, and the ESP movement.

Proposal for a Communicative Syllabus English for Specific Purposes

It included: Advocates of CLT also recognized that many learners

A skills-based syllabus that focuses on the 4 skills, needed English in order to use it in specific
and breaks each one of them down into microskills. occupational or educational settings→ it led to the
Advocates of CLT however stressed an discipline of needs analysis – the use of observation,
integrated-skills approach to the teaching of the skills. surveys, interviews, situation analysis, and analysis of
Since in real life the skills often occur together, they language samples collected in different settings – in
should also be linked in teaching, it was argued. order to determine the kinds of communication
A functional syllabus that is organized according to learners would need to master if they were in specific
the functions the learner should be able to carry out in occupational or educational roles and the language
English. They were often used as the basis for features of particular settings. The focus of needs
speaking and listening courses. analysis is to determine the specific characteristics of a
Other syllabus types were also proposed at this time. language when it is used for specific rather than
A notional syllabus was one based around the content general purposes.
and notions a learner would need to express, and a
task syllabus specified the tasks and activities students
should carry out in the classroom. It was soon
realized, however, that a syllabus needs to identify all
the relevant components of a language, and the first
widely adopted communicative syllabus developed
within the framework of classic CLT was termed
Threshold Level. It described the level of proficiency
learners needed to attain to cross the threshold and
begin real communication. The threshold syllabus
hence specifies topics, functions, notions, situations,
as well as grammar and vocabulary.

Implications for Methodology

The new communicative approach to teaching prompted a rethinking of classroom teaching methodology. It
was argued that learners learn a language through the process of communicating in it, and that communication
that is meaningful to the learner provides a better opportunity for learning than through a grammar-based
approach. In applying these principles in the classroom, new classroom techniques and activities were needed,
and as we saw above, new roles for teachers and learners in the classroom.Instead of making use of activities
that demanded accurate repetition and memorization of sentences and grammatical patterns, activities that
required learners to negotiate meaning and to interact meaningfully were required.

Chapter 3: “Classroom Activities in Communicative Language Teaching”

Plot: the main activity types that were one of the outcomes of CLT.

One of the goals of CLT is to develop fluency in language use.

Fluency is natural language use occurring when a speaker engages in meaningful interaction
and maintains comprehensible and ongoing communication despite limitations in his or her
communicative competence. It is developed by creating classroom activities in which
students must negotiate meaning, use communication strategies, correct misunderstandings,
and work to avoid communication breakdowns. Fluency practice can be contrasted with
Accuracy practice, which focuses on creating correct examples of language use.

Activities focusing on fluency Activities focusing on accuracy

● Reflect natural use of language ● Reflect classroom use of language

● Focus on achieving communication ● Focus on the formation of correct examples of
● Require meaningful use of language language
● Require the use of communication strategies ● Practice language out of context
● Produce language that may not be predictable ● Practice small samples of language
● Seek to link language use to context ● Do not require meaningful communication
● Control choice of language

Mechanical, Meaningful, and Communicative Practice

Mechanical Meaningful Communicative

A controlled practice activity An activity where language control Activities where practice in using
which students can successfully is still provided but where students language within a real
carry out without necessarily are required to make meaningful communicative context is the
understanding the language they choices when carrying out practice. focus, where real information is
are using. Examples: repetition exchanged, and where the language
drills and substitution drills used is not totally predictable.
designed to practice use of
particular grammatical or other
items.

Littlewood (1981) groups activities into two kinds:

Pre-communicative activities Communicative activities

Structural activities Functional communication activities

Quasi-communicative activities Social interactional activities

Functional communication activities require students to use their language resources to

overcome an information gap or solve a problem. Social interactional activities require the
learner to pay attention to the context and the roles of the people involved, and to attend to
such things as formal versus informal language.

- Information-Gap Activities→ in real communication, people normally communicate

in order to get information they do not possess. This is known as an information gap.
More authentic communication is likely to occur in the classroom if students go
beyond the practice of language forms for their own sake and use their linguistic and
communicative resources in order to obtain information. In so doing, they will draw
available vocabulary, grammar, and communication strategies to complete a task.
- Jigsaw activities→ based on the Information-Gap principle. Typically, the class is
divided into groups and each group has part of the information needed to complete
an activity. The class must fit the pieces together to complete the whole. In so doing,
they must use their language resources to communicate meaningfully and so take part
in meaningful communication practice.
 - Task-completion activities→ puzzles, games, map-reading, and other kinds of
classroom tasks in which the focus is on using one’s language resources to complete a
task.
- Information-gathering activities→ student-conducted surveys, interviews, and
searches in which students are required to use their linguistic resources to collect
information.
- Opinion-sharing activities→ activities in which students compare values, opinions,
or beliefs, such as a ranking task in which students list six qualities in order of
importance that they might consider in choosing a date or spouse.
- Information-transfer activities→ These require learners to take information that is
presented in one form, and represent it in a different form. For example, they may
read instructions on how to get from A to B, and then draw a map showing the
sequence, or they may read information about a subject and then represent it as a
graph.
- Reasoning-gap activities→ These involve deriving some new information from
given information through the process of inference, practical reasoning, etc. For
example, working out a teacher’s timetable on the basis of given class timetables.
- Role plays→ activities in which students are assigned roles and improvise a scene or
exchange based on given information or clues.

Emphasis on Pair and Group Work→ through completing activities in this way, it is argued,
learners will obtain several benefits:

● They can learn from hearing the language used by other members
of the group.
● They will produce a greater amount of language than they would use in teacher-fronted
activities.
● Their motivational level is likely to increase.
● They will have the chance to develop fluency.

The Push for Authenticity

Issue→ the relationship between classroom activities and real life. Some argued that
classroom activities should as far as possible mirror the real world and use real world or
“authentic” sources as the basis for classroom learning.
Clarke and Silberstein (1977, 51) thus argued:
Classroom activities should parallel the “real world” as closely as possible. Since language is
a tool of communication, methods and materials should concentrate on the message and not
the medium. The purposes of reading should be the same in class as they are in
real life.
Arguments in favor of the use of authentic materials include:
● They provide cultural information about the target language.
● They provide exposure to real language.
● They relate more closely to learners’ needs.
● They support a more creative approach to teaching.
Since the advent of CLT, textbooks and other teaching materials have taken on a much more
“authentic” look; reading passages are designed to look like magazine articles (if they are not
in fact adapted from magazine articles) and textbooks are designed to a similar standard of
production as real world sources such as popular magazines.

Chapter 4: “Current Trends in Communicative Language Teaching”

Communicative language teaching today refers to a set of generally agreed upon principles
that can be applied in different ways, depending on different aspects.
Ten core assumptions of current communicative language teaching:

1. Second language learning is facilitated when learners are engaged in interaction and
meaningful communication.
2. Effective classroom learning tasks and exercises provide opportunities for students to
negotiate meaning, expand their language resources, notice how language is used, and
take part in meaningful interpersonal exchange.
3. Meaningful communication results from students processing content that is relevant,
purposeful, interesting, and engaging.
4. Communication is a holistic process that often calls upon the use of several language
skills or modalities.
5. Language learning is facilitated both by activities that involve inductive or discovery
learning of underlying rules of language use and organization, as well as by those
involving language analysis and reflection.
6. Language learning is a gradual process that involves creative use of language, and
trial and error. Although errors are a normal product of learning, the ultimate goal of
learning is to be able to use the new language both accurately and fluently.
7. Learners develop their own routes to language learning, progress at different rates,
and have different needs and motivations for language learning.
8. Successful language learning involves the use of effective learning and
communication strategies.
9. The role of the teacher in the language classroom is that of a facilitator, who creates a
classroom climate conducive to language learning and provides opportunities for
students to use and practice the language and to reflect on language use and language
learning.
10. The classroom is a community where learners learn through collaboration and
sharing.

Approaches to language teaching today seek to capture the rich view of language and
language learning assumed by a communicative view of language. Jacobs and Farrel see the
shift toward CLT as marking a paradigm shift in our thinking about teachers, learning, and
teaching. Key components of this shift:
1. The center of attention shifts from the teacher to the student. This shift is generally
known as the move from teacher-centered instruction to learner-centered instruction.
 2. Focusing greater attention on the learning process rather than the products that
learners produce. This shift is known as the move from product-oriented to
process-oriented instruction.
3. Focusing greater attention on the social nature of learning rather than on students as
separate, decontextualized individuals
4. Focusing greater attention on diversity among learners and viewing these difference
not as impediments to learning but as resources to be recognized, catered to, and
appreciated.
5. In research and theory-building, focusing greater attention on the views of those
internal to the classroom rather than solely valuing the views of those who come from
outside to study classrooms, investigate and evaluate what goes on there, and engage
in theorizing about it.
6. Along with this emphasis on context comes the idea of connecting the school with
the world beyond as means of promoting holistic learning.
7. Helping students to understand the purpose of learning and develop their own
purpose
8. A whole-to-part orientation instead of a part-to-whole approach.
9. An emphasis on the importance of meaning rather than drills and other forms of rote
learning
10. A view of learning as a lifelong process rather than something done to prepare
students for an exam.

Jacobs and Farrell suggest that the CLT paradigm shift has led to eight major changes in
approaches to language teaching:

1. Learner autonomy: Giving learners greater choice over their own learning, both in terms of
the content of learning as well as processes they might employ.
2. The social nature of learning: Learning is not an individual, private activity, but a social
one that depends upon interaction with others→ cooperative learning.
3. Curricular integration:English is not seen as a stand-alone subject but is linked to other
subjects in the curriculum.
4. Focus on meaning
5. Diversity: Learners learn in different ways and have different strengths. Teaching needs to
take these differences into account rather than try to force students into a single mold.
6. Thinking skills: Language should serve as a means of developing higher-order thinking
skills, also known as critical and creative thinking.
7. Alternative assessment
8. Teachers as co-learners: The teacher is viewed as a facilitator who is constantly trying out
different alternatives, i.e., learning through doing.

Chapter 5: “Process-Based CLT Approaches– Content-Based Instruction and Task‑Based

Instruction”
 Plot: Two current methodologies that can be described as extensions of the CLT movement
but which take different routes to achieve the goal of communicative language teaching.
Process-based methodologies→ Content-based instruction (CBI) and Task-based
instruction (TBI).

Process-Based CLT approaches

Content-Based Instruction (CBI) Task-based instruction (TBI)

Communication is seen as resulting from processes Language learning will result from creating the right
such as: kinds of interactional processes in the classroom, and
● Interaction between the learner and users of the the best way to create these is to use specially
language designed instructional tasks. In other words, language
● Collaborative creation of meaning learning results from meaningful interaction using the
● Creating meaningful and purposeful interaction language and not from controlled practice.
through language Advocates of TBI argue that grammar and other
● Negotiation of meaning as the learner and his or dimensions of communicative competence can be
her interlocutor arrive at understanding developed as a by-product of engaging learners in
● Learning through attending to the feedback interactive tasks.
learners get when they use the language Task-based instruction makes strong claims for the
● Paying attention to the language one hears (the use of tasks and sees them as the primary unit to be
input) and trying to incorporate new forms into one’s used, both in planning teaching (i.e., in developing a
developing communicative syllabus) and also in classroom teaching.
competence Key characteristics of a task:
● Trying out and experimenting with different ways ● It is something that learners do or carry out using
of saying things their existing language resources.
The best way to create these processes in the ● It has an outcome which is not simply linked to
classroom is by using content as the learning language, though language acquisition may
driving force of classroom activities and to link all occur as the learner carries out the task.
the different dimensions of communicative ● It involves a focus on meaning.
competence, including grammatical competence, to ● In the case of tasks involving two or more learners,
content. it calls upon the learners’ use of communication
Content refers to the information or subject matter strategies and interactional skills.
that we learn or communicate through language Pedagogical tasks are specially designed classroom
rather than the language used to convey it. tasks that are intended to require the use of specific
Content-based teaching: decisions about content are interactional strategies and may also require the
made first, and other kinds of decisions concerning use of specific types of language (skills, grammar,
grammar, skills, functions, etc., are made later. vocabulary). For example: To find differences
Content-based instruction is based on several between two similar pictures→ the interactional
assumptions about language learning: processes it requires provide useful input to language
● People learn a language more successfully when development.
they use the language as a means of acquiring Real-world tasks are tasks that reflect real-world
information, rather than as an end in itself. uses of language and which might be considered a
● CBI better reflects learners’ needs for learning a rehearsal for real-world tasks. For example: role play
second language. practicing for a job interview.
● Content provides a coherent framework that can be With TBI the focus shifts to using tasks to create
used to link and develop all of the language skills. interaction and then building language awareness and
Issues: language development around task performance.
 - The extent to which focusing on content Willis proposes a sequence of activities:
provides a sufficient basis for the - Pre-task activities: introduction to topic and
development of language skills. tasks.
- Another issue concerns whether language - Task cycle: task, planning, report
teachers have the necessary subject-matter - Language focus: analysis, practice.
expertise to teach specialized content areas. Issues implementing a task-based approach:
- Assessment. Will learners be assessed - There is little evidence that it works any more
according to content knowledge, language effectively than the P-P-P approach it seeks to
use, or both? replace.
- Criteria for selecting and sequencing tasks
- TBI addresses classroom processes rather than
learning outcomes.

Chapter 6: “Text-Based Instruction and Competency-Based Instruction”

Plot: two approaches which focus more on the outcomes or products of learning as the
starting point in course design than on classroom processes. They start by identifying the
kinds of uses of language the learner is expected to be able to master at the end of a given
period of instruction. Teaching strategies are then selected to help achieve these goals.

Product-Based CLT Approaches

Text-Based Instruction Competency-Based Instruction

Also known as a genre-based approach, sees It seeks to teach students the basic skills they need in
communicative competence as involving the mastery order to prepare them for situations they commonly
of different types of texts. encounter in everyday life.
Text→ refers to structured sequences of language that Focus on the outcomes of learning as the driving force
are used in specific contexts in specific ways. of teaching and the curriculum.
Different uses of language can be regarded as a text Features:
in that it exists as a unified whole with a beginning, 1. A focus on successful functioning in society.
middle, and end, it confirms to norms of organization The goal is to enable students to become
and content, and it draws on appropriate grammar and autonomous individuals capable of coping
vocabulary. Communicative competence→ involves with the demands of the world.
being able to use different kinds of spoken and 2. A focus on life skills. Rather than teaching
written texts in the specific contexts of their use. language in isolation, CBLT teaches language
The TBI is based on an approach to teaching as a function of communication about concrete
language which involves: tasks.
● Teaching explicitly about the structures and 3. Task- or performance-oriented instruction.
grammatical features of spoken and written texts What counts is what students can do as a result
● Linking spoken and written texts to the cultural of instruction.
context of their use 4. Modularized instruction. Language learning is
● Designing units of work which focus on developing broken down into meaningful chunks.
skills in relation to whole texts 5. Outcomes are made explicit. Outcomes are
● Providing students with guided practice as they public knowledge, known and agreed upon by
develop language skills for meaningful both learner and teacher.
communication through whole texts 6. Continuous and ongoing assessment. Students
The core units of planning in TBI are text types→ are pre-tested to determine what skills they
identified through needs analysis and through the lack and post-tested after instruction on that
analysis of language as it is used in different settings. skill.
How is it implemented? According to Feez and 7. Demonstrated mastery of performance
Joyce it consists of 5 phases: objectives. Rather than the traditional
- Phase 1: Building the Context paper-and-pencil tests, assessment is based on
- Phase 2: Modeling and Deconstructing the the ability to demonstrate prespecified
Text behaviors.
- Phase 3: Joint Construction of the Text 8. Individualized, student-centered instruction.
- Phase 4: Independent Construction of the Text In content, level, and pace, objectives are
- Phase 5: Linking to Related Texts defined in terms of individual needs; prior
Issues: learning and achievement are taken into
It focuses on the products of learning rather than the account in developing curricula. Instruction is
processes involved. not time-based; students progress at their own
An emphasis on individual creativity and personal rates and concentrate on just those areas in
expression is missing. which they lack competence.
It becomes repetitive and boring over time since the Issues:
five-phase cycle described above is applied to the It looks easier and neater than it is.
teaching of all four skills. It is a reductionist approach→ language learning is
reduced to a set of lists and such things as thinking
skills are ignored.